Refuge John Lewis gift list - donate here

[JackThePumpkinKing]

Re-posting from the Christmas topic, hopefully the thread police won't bite me

www.redonline.co.uk/news/sam-baker-s-daily-letter/john-lewis-refuge-gift-list

"Every year, Refuge try to ensure that every woman and child in their refuges receive a minimum of two to three presents each to unwrap on Christmas day. As Refuge say, 'The Christmas gift initiative is vital to ensure that refuges became places of joy on a day that has the potential to very bleak and hard.'
The charity have a gift list at John Lewis for the appeal so it could not be simpler. You can go as small as a counting block for £2.99, to as big as a pair of roller blades for £40. Whatever you pick, you will know that there?s a child in a refuge somewhere who will have a present to open on Christmas morning ? thanks to you.
Surely, this is the best reason to start your Christmas shopping early this year?
Go to Johnlewisgiftlist.com and enter list number 522953. ( The gift list has to close on 6th December 2012 so that there is time to get the presents to each of the Refuges )

Thank you, I will take a look.

Great idea, bump!

Please type the gift list number carefully

522953

I have asked John Lewis if they are going to donate the profit from the sales generated - will report back

bumping so I can find it later

There is an Oner, Nickelbabe, who has a bookshop who is doing something similar.

MNer not Oner.

Ah yes Fright - I've seen that thread. Have you got a link you can post?

What a fantastic idea! Will def get something

That's a brilliant idea, bumping

Brilliant idea, hope a little one enjoys opening their book and SpongeBob walkie talkies on Christmas day.

It's a great idea and I will be ordering something.

There still seems to be tons of stuff available though :(

Have done it. What a good cause.

We did this last year instead of shoe boxes. Ds2 has got the sixth form doing it this year.

Fantastic idea, thanks. I'll be buying something when I have the money. I hope John Lewis are donating too though. I'll be very shocked if their not and it would put me off shopping with them again in future.

I've just emailed John Lewis to say it's s fantastic idea and to ask if they'll be donating too. I mentioned that I'd heard about it on mumsnet so that they'd know we were talking about it in case this influences their decision about donating. It would be very wrong for them to profit from this and not be donating. Maybe a few more emails would help if anyone wants to drop them an email?

It is just set up like a normal gift list - they might not have been asked to contribute.

Whilst I don't want to take away from the JL/Refuge thing at all, I thought I'd mention that you may also want to contact your local refuge or homeless shelter as they are likely to also be looking for gifts for their residents. Ours takes items which are in an "as new" condition as well as brand new so I donated some of DD's toys & boys which had been rarely played with or read. DD never noticed and it cleared a bit of room on the shelves ready for her influx of toys. This year, as she's (obviously) older, I'm going to try & involve her a bit. Also, if I was in a shop and they were doing a 3 for 2 deal or something but there wasn't something I wanted or needed as the third item, then I'd pick something up anyway and add it to the donations pile.

What a brilliant idea this is. I am going to buy something now.

What a great idea! x

I don't know about John Lewis but when I had a wedding list at Debenhams we got a percentage of what everyone bought as vouchers on top. Hope JL are giving something.

What a fab idea.

Murtette I wish my local refuge had a gift list, you turn up (and you have to be a woman, DH can't drop it off) with purchases and either they've got too many already or they need different ages to what you've got and they won't tell you till you turn up (so you can't phone and ask if they need 4YO boy presents for example as you could be acting on behalf of a man who is trying to find out where his 4YO is IYKWIM)

all reasonable, but makes it hard to buy for the local one, they say have to be vary wary incase you are passing on something from an exP or father that the woman/kids will recognise as from him, which makes total sense, but they also can't guide you.. so a gift list that goes to a refuge somewhere else is a better option IMO

(there used to be a cafe that collected presents wrapped and labelled with boy/girl and age, and somehow distributed them amongst a number of refuges that matched the sex/age through a safe person, but it closed and now its just the housing office for the local one and its very difficult to get it right)

More info, just incase anybody is suspicious

refuge.org.uk/get-involved/refuges-40th-birthday/

One thing you are guaranteed a lot of in refuges is women, though. Its lovely to get things for the kiddies but there are often women in refuge with no family contact, few friends, who will have nothing to open. This year we want to make sure that every single family member gets a gift. A gift box of smellies, nice socks/gloves/hat, even some nice candles or other household type items (many women in refuge will be preparing to move on to an independent tenancy, often starting from scratch re: household goods) would all be fantastic gifts for a woman in crisis.

Y'all can send things to my lovely lovely women if you want.